MANILA, Philippines — There will be a new champion this year after Cignal pulled off an improbable feat, knocking off back-to-back champion Petron, 30-28, 25-21, 17-25, 23-25, 15-8, last night in their PSL All-Filipino Conference semifinal duel at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.
The HD Spikers, seeded No. 5 after the prelims, clinched their first All-Filipino finals appearance. They will face 2016 champion F2 Logistics in the best-of-three title series beginning tomorrow at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
Team captain Rachel Ann Daquis led the way for Cignal with 22 points and 12 receptions. But it was Jovelyn Gonzaga who dealt the killer blows on the reigning champions as she finished with 17 markers and 21 digs.
“We studied Petron, we prepared hard for them to be able to cap off this huge upset. It was hard but we did not give up. I just told them that this match is only for brave people, whoever blinks first loses so I’m just happy that we did it. We fought, we fought,” said head coach Edgar Barroga.
Riding high on a thrilling five-set victory against the twice-to-beat Petron last Tuesday, the HD Spikers fought hard in the do-or-die contest, and took the first two sets.
As expected, however, Petron refused to go down without a fight, taking the next two sets to force a deciding fifth.
But Cignal rose to the challenge as the tireless Gonzaga spearheaded an 8-0 blast over the beleaguered champions to take a commanding 11-4 spread that it protected the rest of the way.
For the second straight game, Petron failed to get the job done and kissed its bid for a third straight All-Filipino title goodbye.
Sisi Rondina, Ces Molina and Aiza Maiza-Pontillas chipped in 20, 19 and 15 markers in a losing cause for the No. 1 seed Blaze Spikers.